Search This Blog

Saturday, July 31, 2010

I don't now if readers know how the cover art on their books work. For me, since I am e-published, the way it has worked is that with each publisher, I have received a different cover artist for the book.

I've been very blessed because each artist is unique with their own style and it makes each of my books look very different from each other while each series continues to look similar so that it is easily identifiable as a series.

So thank you to Anne Cain, Buffi BeCraft-Woodell, April Martinez, and Fiona Jayde

You guys do amazing work!

*Simon's Fate--April Martinez

*Love Beyond Sanity-Buffi BeCraft-Woodell

*Her Wolf-Anne Cain

*Screw Superman--Fiona Jayde

For full examples, see to the right of this post where I have put up all my book covers.

Friday, July 30, 2010

First I'd like to thank Rebecca for asking me to guest here at her blog today and share a freaky story with you. This one still stands out because it's personal to my family. See, my grandmother passed away when I was around 20 years old. She passed about nine months after my grandfather and family consensus was that she was heartbroken (though they fought like cats and dogs before they both got sick).

The family came together to clean out the house and disbursed the various items my grandparents had collected through the years. One of these items was a large picture my grandfather gave my grandmother. Now, it was well known through the family that my grandmother hated the picture, but my grandfather wouldn't let her get rid of it. My father brought it home and my mom put it on the mantel over the fireplace.

A few months later, my parents and I were sitting in our living room watching TV. It was a nice summer day where we could have the windows open and enjoy the sunshine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and no breeze to be seen for miles. We were all watching TV when suddenly, the picture fell off the mantel and crashed through the wrought iron grate in front of the fireplace. Glass shattered everywhere and the picture was ruined because it now had a very nice, heavy piece of iron torn through the canvas.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

It's Thursday so I'm going to continue the process of introducing you to my work. This book was something I toyed with for a while. The Westervelt books focus, mainly, on the Kane family--the Royal family of the Westervelt pack. But I kept asking myself--what is the rest of the pack up to? The answer came to me in the form of a Holiday Call put up by Liquid Silver Books.

It seemed like the right time to tell Malcom's story. So while this book is a short story, found in the same world as the other Westervelt books, it doesn't get a number because it is technically out of synch with the rest of the world.

Jana thought she was through with Westervelt. Fleeing for her life thirty years ago, she's hidden as a human ever since. But a strangely worded Valentine delivered to her desk at work has given her pause.

Malcolm never expected to find his mate working for a crooked company he was sent to investigate in New York City. But there she is. Now, on Valentine's Day, the two will battle their attraction for each other while taking down a conglomerate built for the sole purpose of destroying the Westervelt Wolves.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I had the opportunity this weekend to watch the movie, Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington. Actually, I got to watch it twice.

How did I watch it twice? Well, the first time I watched it was while the baby napped and DH had taken DS#1 and DS#2 to the movies to see Despicable Me. I bought it on DVR. So the second time I watched it was on Sunday when DH turned it on using the free replay to watch it again.

It was kind of funny to watch it twice.

The first time I saw it, as I sat near the baby monitor, anxious that any little noise might wake him up, I found that I didn't enjoy the movie all that much. I kept feeling like I was watching a post-apocalyptic western. Denzel, who is honestly such an amazing actor, kept meeting the bad guys in the middle of the street guns, or sometimes swords, drawn. I had a hard time getting into.

But when I watched it with my husband the next day, while someone else had the baby and the kids played in the playroom, I found that this time I could really suspend my disbelief and let the story take me with it--even knowing where it was going to go.

My opinion: It's a wild ride if you're in the right mood for it. And I still think it's a Western at heart. You just have to be in the mood to root for a gun slinger!

Monday, July 26, 2010

I had a blog posted for today where I went onto something of a rant about something that really, really bugged me yesterday. I've decided to delete that post because I think there is enough negativity out there and I don't need to add to it.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

So happy to report that I've just sold a short story entitled "Light Me Up" to Silver Publishing as part of their call for Christmas stories. Mine is actually a Hanukkah story but they took it anyway. (THANK YOU!) So pleased to be working with them.

It will be released December 6, 2010 so we'll talk more about it later. In the mean time I'm doing the Happy Chicken Dance.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

All of the cover artists who have designed the covers for my books have been really incredible. This one was done by Fiona Jayde. The book is Screw Superman and it's coming August 2nd, 2010 with Noble Romance Publishing.

I'm so in love with this cover, I just can't seem to stop looking at it.

Friday, July 23, 2010

I'm convinced they do exist (well exist might be too literal a word). They occupy space with us and there have been too many instances in my own life to think otherwise.

One in particular didn't exactly freak me out. It was more of an annoyance. I was asleep when something awoke me in the dead of night. Whispers, and a lot of them. You know the kind where you can't really figure out what they're saying but you know there is something in the room with you that your imagination didn't manufacture? I listened for awhile but nothing came of it. I figured they must have been having a spectral "layover" in my house then continued on when they figured it out.

Still, I'm like if you're going to wake me up, at least impart some words of wisdom or at least winning lottery numbers to make it worthwhile.

This is also kinda weird. Two years ago, the hubs and I took my brother to Disney World at Christmas time. We took a string of pictures of the castle at night and only one of those photos contained "orbs". I had a ghost hunter look at the picture and he confirmed that yes, they were ghosts.

Isn't that nice? Even when people die they still flock to their happy place? Sounds good to me. I wonder how many of them actually hang out at the Haunted Mansion and blend right in?

Ghosts are interesting and I use them alot in my own stories. If you're interested in checking it out, pop over to my website and check out my books http://www.sandrasookoo.com

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Today I'm going to tell you about Wolf Reborn: The Westervelt Wolves Book 3

Here is the blurb:

A lone wolf is a dangerous creature, until he meets his mate. Then he’ll become lethal to protect her.

Faith Anderson never asked to be a wolf shifter, but one strange encounter with the Westervelt Wolves and she suddenly has a past she knows nothing about and a future wrought with danger. No one is more disappointed than she to discover that the island does not hold a mate for her…that is, until she collides with Theo Kane, the missing prince of the Westervelt Wolves who has chosen isolation to save his pack from what he believes are his insane tendencies.

Theo couldn’t imagine anything worse than the near death experience that left him scarred and forever changed. Until some of the same things start happening to Faith. Now he has no choice but to face what he has avoided for over a year if he doesn’t want the past to repeat itself, this time taking Faith along for the ride. Together they will battle demons, invisible wolves, and worst of all his father to find their eternal love.

But if the price is eternity, are they willing to risk it all?

This was a really wonderful book to write. I fell in love with Theo's character during Her Wolf. He gives Ashlee a bit of a hard time and then ultimately redeems himself. During Summer's Wolf, he really shows the depth of his character. I knew it was going to have to be a strong woman to love him, to bring him back from the darkness that invaded his soul. Faith was just that woman.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Moira has lived in Strange Hollow for almost a year, unable to touch anyone, lest she should see their future. Moira is a former Fate who chose to leave her job, not liking the competitive, outlandish destinies the Fates were bestowing on humanity. Always nervous, she is accepted but lonely. That is, until she stumbles upon Simon who is hiding in the basement of the Strange Hollow Visitor’s Center. A vampire, Simon is on the run from his brothers, but hampered by his blood phobia, which makes him pass out at either the sight or smell of it--a difficult situation for a vampire to find himself in.

Together, the two will discover that with just a little help from the person you love, anything is possible--especially in Strange Hollow.

Here is a small excerpt to wet your appetite.

“Simon…” She stood, her hands on her hips. “I’ve been thinking about this all day. How do you live if you can’t stand to look at blood?”

“Technically, I don’t live.”

She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Fine, let’s not debate semantics here. You know what I asked you.”

He ran his hands through his hair. For a second he wished he was just a regular guy and she was a regular woman, and they could talk about normal things such as the weather or candlelight dinners instead of his blood problem.

“I’ve always lost consciousness at the sight of blood. I did before I died and it didn’t go away afterward.” Standing, he stretched his arms toward the ceiling for a second before putting them down. His vampire senses made him notice Moira’s pupils dilated at the sight. Was she attracted to him? Was it possible?

“Then how did you survive your first year?” She walked to him, standing only a foot away from him.

Yes, he could now smell her arousal. He would have given any amount of money for a discreet way to reach down and loosen his pants. He was afraid she could see exactly what she did to him. He needed to keep the conversation going. “There are very few ways one can die again after you already have. Don’t you read Stoker? Direct exposure to sunlight, cut off my head, burn me, I don’t enjoy garlic ... the whole nine yards.”

“Come on. Let’s talk and walk.” She motioned toward the stairs. “You can come home with me. Tomorrow, you can spend the day in my basement. I’ll blacken out the windows.”

He’d already decided he would be leaving tonight. If this place was as wonderful as she said it was, he couldn’t risk exposing it to the kind of evil tracking him. Sometime tonight he would find another way out of town. For now, however, he’d follow her to the moon if she wanted.

As they walked together up the stairs, he was struck by a thought. Moira was attracted to him and she’d just invited him home. Did she want to... no, he dismissed the idea; it was one thing to be aroused by him, another thing to actually go to bed with a vampire.

Moira might be a Fate but she was also one incredible woman. No way would she have a vampire fetish.

If you’re interested, I hope you will check out "Simon’s Fate".It can be purchased here.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

And by the way...if you comment today, one lucky person will win a copy of my book!

Monday, July 19, 2010

About two weeks ago, I was hijacked by a short story that took me away from my work in progress. I literally had to stop everything I was writing and write that instead. I'm glad I did. I think it turned out well.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Saturday, July 17, 2010

I'm watching the movie "Valentine's Day" and I can't help but feel like they were trying to do a poor imitation of "Love Actually," which is a movie I love.

It made me think about books that I love that I would never want to do a poor imitation of. For example, anytime I read anything about Nalini Singh or Eloisa James I am overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of their writing and how impressed I am by anything and everything they do.

Friday, July 16, 2010

One I can specifically remember is that I was standing in the middle of a circus. It was almost my turn to go on and preform. I kept trying to tell everyone that I didn't know the routine, that I wasn't familiar with the show. They kept insisting that I knew it. I just had to remember it. Strange looking people wearing masks and face paint circled me and I could hear the crowd waiting for me to go on.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Three years ago, Summer Morrison’s happy, normal life was thrown into upheaval. Forced to discover, before she was ready, that she was half-wolf shifter and mated to the pack’s enforcer has left Summer moody, shaken, and resentful. When tragedy strikes her family, Summer is forced to come back to the world of the Westervelt Wolves…and into the arms of Cullen Murphy.

Cullen has waited three years for Summer, having promised her mother he would give her time to grow up. But he’s never forgotten his mate and craved her presence since he first saw her on the battlefield three years earlier. The trouble is, now that Cullen has Summer, he has no idea what to do with her. Three hundred years of being alone has left Cullen socially inept and more lonesome than he would ever admit. He lives with the guilt and shame of his deeds, while knowing his role is pivotal to the pack’s survival.

Together, Cullen and Summer will heal each other’s wounds and discover that life is worth living as long as they are together. Now there’s just the little matter of Kendrick and Claudius, their evil henchmen, the army of miscreant wolves, and the demons that keep attacking. If they can survive, their love will be everlasting. But failure will mean not only their destruction, but the end of the Westervelt Wolves.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

This is a picture I took from a balcony in a condo DH and I stayed in when we went to California last March. We woke up in the morning, walked out onto the condo's balcony and this was the view we had. Breathtaking.

Now, if you came to my house, you would not have such a view. You would see the house across the street. LOL But if travelled just a few blocks away, you would actually be able to see New York City from across the Hudson River. So not as much immediate gratification but still something that people who are not used to it find cool.

Why am I writing about this? When I write, I place a lot of my stories in and around the area I grew up in or in places in which I've spent a lot of time. Westervelt reminds me, for example, of where I went to sleep-away camp for two summers as a kid.

Okay.

I have a novel out there that I haven't sold yet (Truth is I haven't tried to sell it yet because I'm still tweaking it) and at the end of it I pretty much eliminate the possibility of setting the next in its series anywhere near where I live. It's going to have to be somewhere else.

Not wanting to screw anything up, I contacted another writer who I respect and asked her to tell me the answers to some questions I had about living in her area. Her answers weren't at all what I expected. This made me so glad I'd spoken to her first.

I need a view into another world, someone else's world, and I need it to be right.

Friday, July 9, 2010

It is not mine and it is not the picture my husband took in the story told below. I just wanted a representation. I take no credit for this picture. It is not mine.

So, its Something Freaky Friday.

Today, as in every Friday, is the day I tell you a story that freaked me out and I hope that you tell me one that scared you? Okay.

This story is not my own. This one involves my Dear Husband and a trip he took before he met me.

Before my husband and I started dating, he took a trip with a bunch of his guy friends here to the Myrtles Plantation, which is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in the United States. They stayed over night and no one saw a ghost. So far not a very interesting story right?

Then one of his friends got his pictures from the weekend developed. In every picture they took, in the background were these shadow people, or at least what looked like them, similar to the picture above.

I wish we had the pictures but they passed it around so everyone could show their families and frankly I'm not sure who has it now so I can't share it with you. But it was really, really scary. It was like even though they hadn't known it, something was there with them watching them.

Ashlee Morrison has a secret obsession—with a dark and mysterious male. The only problem is that he’s a wolf and she’s becoming convinced that she’s insane. But Ashlee’s wolf is no ordinary canine; he is Tristan Kane, third son in the royal family of the Westervelt Wolf pack.

Trapped in his wolf form by his evil father’s men, Tristan has desperately sought a way out of predicament and is shocked to find that the sad but beautiful redhead who has come to the wolf cage can not only hear him, but awakens in him the knowledge that she is his mate, the other half of his soul.

Ashlee, unaware that she is half wolf-shifter, agrees to accompany Tristan back to his pack in Maine to seek answers to her past and understand her future. But as Tristan and Ashlee grow closer, familial betrayals will threaten to destroy the fragile love they have started to build.

With the odds stacked against them, Ashlee and Tristan will either embrace their love to save the Westervelt Wolves or be lost forever to despair.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I have a friend who is a playwright. He would like more time to write but finds he can't do it in anything but absolute silence and therefore, with three kids, it just doesn't happen. He wanted to know how I could possibly be productive with 3 kids around.

Here's the thing. I have ADD. I'm not just saying this lightly. I do have it. I'm also dyslexic. All of this was diagnosed when I was in 3rd grade. (Many, many moons ago...) I've never been medicated and for the most part I keep it under control.

Except...

I am always doing three things at once, even if you don't know that I am. Sitting at dinner having a conversation with me? I'm talking to you and writing my next book in my head. You'll really have no idea its going on. I might also, at the same time, be compiling a grocery list or thinking about the last episode of Lost.

If my children are running around making noise, it actually enables me to write better. The part of my brain that is forever 'on' and needs distraction has something else to do as it listens to DS#1 explain to DS#2 why Curious George is a great monkey and I can write my story. If you left me in a quiet house to do it, I will talk on the phone, check my e-mail go get lunch, anything for another thing to do at the same time.

I realize this seems odd to a lot of people for whom this would be really, really difficult. But for me, it's the only way to function.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

I'd just like to spend a moment saying Happy 4th of July with a special shout out to all the brave men and women serving our country both here and overseas and to all the veterans out there who do. And to all their families supporting them.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

I just wanted to write a quick blog post to say how lucky I have been to have met the most interesting people online through writing groups, author links, and reader contact. Everyone is from such interesting place and doing really cool things.

I laugh somedays because I'll think 'oh I need to tell so-and-so something' and then I realize that I've never met 'so-and-so' in person but that I value their opinion as much as I do a lot of people I see every day.

So thanks for being their my on-line friends and my non-online ones. I'm grateful for all of you! Have a great Friday!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Forgetting my bad pun of the song lyric above. What I want to talk about today is actually a very serious topic to me.

It's about Theft. Specifically, e-book piracy.

When Napster and the Music Industry were going through their issues, I didn't pay that much attention. Truth? I never, ever illegally downloaded music. Did I know people who did? God, yes. Did I think about it? Never.

Now here I am, many years later, and I write Paranormal/Fantasy Romance Novels of the e-book fashion. But this isn't limited to me. Almost every author has e-books out there now, sold directly from the publisher or other 3rd party sites.

Like many authors, I have a google alert set up with my name. Anytime a new mention of me, Rebecca Royce, comes up in relation to my work I get an e-mail from Google telling me about it.

What does that mean?

It means that if a review site puts up a review of one of my books, I may even hear about it before my publisher does or before the website gets the time to e-mail me. If someone writes a review of Her Wolf on Goodreads, I hear about it, immediately.

I also get told ever single time a new Pirate puts a copy of one of my books up to be illegally downloaded on a file share website.

I have, if my own calculations are correct, been downloaded thousands of times.

Over and over and over again.

I've heard all the arguments. I've heard it said that e-book Pirates are not people who want to read my books. They like owning lots of files. They download everything. They would never have actually spent the money to read the book to begin with. Some people argue that someone who illegally downloads your work may actually become someone who buys your work later, that its not any different than loaning a paperback novel to your neighbor.

Uh-huh.

Let's take a look at some of this, shall we?

Someone who downloads my book doesn't care about my book, they just want a file, any file.

Fine. Except that they specifically seem to request me. (And not just me, many authors.) The second the announcement goes out that I have a new Westervelt novel coming out, requests go up on the Torrents sight to have it illegally put up for sharing days before it has even been released.

How do I know?

Google Alerts. I see the request.

Clearly said person must have read the previous books and liked them enough to want to read the next one. That's great. I'm very grateful. Please go buy it.

Now let's take a look at the borrowing from your neighbor argument. Would you loan your books to thousands of people? Thousands? Because thats what happens. When one of my books is downloaded thousands of times it is not the same as loaning it to Grandma who lives next door.

It's just not and you know it.

Okay. Maybe the people who download books illegally would never spend money for a book. Maybe they will only read books they get for free.

There is nothing I can say about this.

Nothing.

You've read these blogs before. You've heard authors much more talented and accomplished than me complain and tell you that it's not okay, that you are making it harder for us to continue to do this.

We're people. We have families we need to feed and take care of, the same way that you do. How would you like it if I came to your work and took a project you worked all day on and then made it so you never got paid for it?

The bottom line: It's Illegal.

Here's the deal....

I am so enormously grateful for every fan I have. There is nothing better than getting an e-mail from you telling you how much you enjoy my work. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is not to you.

Oh and to the Sites that refuse to take down the work when I e-mail them about it...Shame on You.